The present invention relates to a rack for holding skates. In particular, the present invention relates to a rack for sorting, organizing and storing in-line skates.
In-line skates have become an extremely popular form of recreational entertainment. Adults and children alike enjoy the speed, mobility and physical exercise associated with in-line skating. This being so, elementary, middle and high schools have incorporated in-line skating programs into existing physical education programs. These programs include students using in-line skates within a specified area, usually within a school gym or a school playground having a suitable surface.
In order to maximize both student participation and enjoyment of in-line skating, most schools purchase a large quantity of in-line skates to be distributed to the students during selected periods of the school day. Typically, there is only a limited amount of time that students have during the regular school day to participate in such recreational activities. It is therefore advantageous to minimize the time taken to both distribute and collect the in-line skates at the beginning and at the end of the period in order to maximize the time that students have to participate in in-line skating.
Also, children of different ages have varying sized feet, and the in-line skates must be kept together in matching pairs based on the size of the in-line skates. Additionally, the inherent bulkiness of in-line skates increases the difficulty to keep the in-line skates organized. It therefore makes it difficult to sort and organize the in-line skates when students randomly drop the in-line skates in selected areas or selected bins. This further increases the distribution time when the in-line skates are to be used again.
Furthermore, when the in-line skates are haphazardly strewn on the floor after use, damage may occur to the in-line skate, and this damage may be difficult to readily detect because it may be buried by other in-line skates thrown on top, which may also be the reason for the damage in the first place.
The present invention includes an in-line skate rack for organizing and storing a plurality of in-line skates in an upright position. The in-line skate rack comprises a substantially rectangular horizontal support structure supported by vertical members at each comer, and at least one platform having elongated slots contained therein supported by the horizontal support structure. The elongated slots permit only a wheeled portion of the in-line skate to be insertable therethrough, thus supporting the in-line skate in a substantially upright position. Caster wheels are attachable to the in-line skate rack allowing the rack to be mobile.